The solutions sought by US bishops are a good model for how the church at large should handle the crisis, said Nicholas Cafardi, a respected canonical law professor and author of "Before Dallas," a history of the clergy child sex abuse crisis.

"We're still in a trust rebuilding process," Cafardi told AFP. "But the only thing that turned that around was the very drastic action the bishops took in 2002."

After years of inaction, the United States Conference of Bishops developed a charter governing how the church would protect children that included a zero tolerance policy, background checks and prevention training.

It also established a National Review Board led by lay people to monitor progress and granted access to church files for researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.